Debuts tonight. I'm hopeful this will fill the hole in my talk show heart that was vacated by Late Night with Conan.
monologue was weak. Opening bit was weird and drawn out. Poorly-placed A/C vent is moving the backdrop behind him. 0/3 will not watch again.
Hummus and Oreo/Trump bits were great. Already the best guy in late night and it's only going to get better
Really solid debut. The moonves mentalist gag was good. I would have enjoyed it even more without the dialogue/explanation. The cursed amulet sponsor thing was overextended but exactly the kind of don't-give-a-fuck esoteric nonsense that separates guys like Dave, and now Colbert from the Jimmys in late night. He kept things moving, and had some good moments with both Clooney and Bush. No late night talk show is ever going to be appointment tv for me ever again, but I am encouraged by this start, and plan on keeping tabs on it. Also enjoy the silliness of him doing his own announcing, and the locker room call-back worked as a last second gag.
Debut shows are hard because they are never topical. They just try to hit every big story since the host went off the air. So I give a pass for the monologue. The show progressed well as Colbert got more comfortable. I think going forward that his interviews could be the best part about his show which is obviously rare.
He's smart, funny, and speed-of-light quick with his smarts and funny. There are some kinks to work out but they will be. Watching the premiere the only complaint I had is that the interviews with Clooney and Jeb (particularly Jeb; I say that as a left-leaning type) were shorter than they should have been and Colbert jumped in too much. They need to stretch out the interviews and Colbert needs to relax juuust a bit while interviewing and let the guest talk unless he needs to push the convo or the interview is dull. I have no doubt this will come in time. I liked seeing NBC/Fallon give him a shout out and liked seeing CBS/Colbert run with it. Speaking of Fallon, he's come a loooooooong way from when he started on The Tonight Show - if Colbert has a similar progression (he should) we're about to enter a new golden age of late night TV - at least as far as the major networks are concerned. It won't be a golden age ratings-wise but it should be quality and entertainment-wise.
Haven't watched in a minute. This hunger games presidential race bit is fucking foolishly brilliant. So long Scott Walker, of District Cheese.
the interview with Cruz was a classic surprised after Cruz asked the audience why you'd want 5 unelected lawyers in Washington, Colbert didn't call him out with it's 9 but who's counting.
He's saving 11:30 latenight one bit at a time. I mean to set this bit up the way he did, and then do it while slipping in and out of the old idiot daily show reporter character...
his ratings....woof http://www.mediaite.com/uncategoriz...eaten-by-seth-meyers-who-airs-one-hour-later/
I can see this going the way it went between Conan and NBC... I like Colbert, but he's being destroyed. To be fair, I don't see how anyone comes in and competes with Fallon.... Like him or not, he's going to crush the ratings for a long time. I'll never understand Kimmel's ratings. I have never found him funny.
Maybe it's him being in LA which means better guests. Having Sacha Baron Cohen do Borat last week was pretty neat.
Colbert is far and away the best and most insightful interviewer of the three.... which, for me, is the most important quality in a talk show/late night host. I have nothing bad to say about Fallon or Kimmel - I feel like we're in a new golden age of sorts as far as the quality of late shows is concerned. I would imagine CBS is going to be really patient re: Late Show ratings and I have a feeling it will pay off for them in the long run. It goes without saying that Colbert appeals to a somewhat older demo than Fallon or Kimmel. Some of the millennials and Gen Y'ers that are loyal to and pumping Fallon/Kimmel's ratings will probably move to Colbert as time goes by.
I am the complete opposite. Once the guests come on all late night is horrible. I don't give a shit about what they are plugging. At least Fallon has incorporated games into their interviews so it keeps you watching.
Colbert has now won total viewership over Fallon three weeks in a row. He is slowly making up ground in the demos too.